Guest Authors,  Tule Publishing,  Writer's moments

Guest Author Kelly Cain Has a New Release and a Giveaway!

June 9, 2021 /

UPDATE: Shari B. is the winner of the $25.00 Amazon Gift Card! Shari, Kelly will be in touch with you!

I am so pleased to welcome fellow Tule author Kelly Cain to the blog today!

Kelly is a native Northern Californian but has spent the last couple of decades in Texas, currently residing in the live-music capital of the world, Austin. Consequently, most of her books are set somewhere between those two locations.

Kelly writes multicultural romance with determined women directing their own fates, and the swoon-worthy men who adore them. She loves reading most genres but please don’t ask her to pick just one. However, she can pick her favorite book boyfriend – Will Herondale.

When she isn’t reading or writing, Kelly is most likely using a genealogy site to research her extended family, both old and new. Or cooking/baking something delightful.

She has two adult daughters, and a new granddaughter.

**Kelly is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commenter! So be sure to leave a comment here if you’d like a chance to wine! We’ll randomly draw a winner on Friday, June 10 at noon!**

N: Welcome to the blog, Kelly. I’m so delighted to have you with us today. So, what inspired you to start writing?

A: Thanks so much for hosting me, Nan. Like so many writers, I was a reader first. My degrees are in business. Writing, or really anything creative, was never on my radar. I was zipping through a ton of New Adult books back in 2015 and thought, “I can write this.” So I did. Six weeks later, I produced my first book, and it was published by a small press in 2016. I’ve been writing non-stop ever since.

N: What comes first—the plot or the characters?

A: It depends on the book/series, but usually the plot.

N: What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing An Acquired Taste?

A: That I’m funnier than I thought. Hopefully readers will agree lol.

N: Your newest book, An Acquired Taste just released yesterday. Can you share with us something about this fun, new story that isn’t in the blurb?

A: There’s a recipe at the end of each chapter. Some are real like Sweet Potato Pie. And some are fun like Punch…me in the face. But all are related to the chapter immediately before the recipe.

N: What is the most difficult part about writing for you?

A: When I exercise the writing muscle often, nothing is difficult. If I take a week or so off, it’s hard for me to get back into the groove.

N: Talk to me about the food! Are you a foodie like Rowan and Knox?

A: 100%. Although I’m not as talented as either Rowan or Knox, I love to cook. Many of the recipes included in An Acquired Taste were passed down to me or ones I’ve replicated from food I’ve tasted and loved.

N: If you had to describe Rowan in only three words, what would those three words be? And Knox?

A: For Rowan: driven, stubborn, loyal. For Knox: playful, competitive, easy-going.

N: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

A: Practice more patience. There’s a long game involved with writing and publishing so don’t go for the quick payoff.

N: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell your readers about?

A: Definitely! I’m working on book 3 of the Everheart Brothers of Texas series. This is brother Weston’s book. He’s the cinnamon roll hero who is crushing hard on one of his best friends, Ryan, who also manages his father’s restaurant where Weston works. His father has a strict no fraternization policy, and that includes for his son.

N: What do you like to do when you are not writing?

A: Reading, of course, and cooking. Spending time with my daughters and their families is the highest on my list. I really enjoy genealogy and have extensively researched my family trees. I say trees with an “s” because during this process, I discovered a few years ago I’m adopted so built a whole new tree to uncover my original family.

N: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: A psychologist. 😊 Then a lawyer. I even went to law school a couple years and my first story was about a law school student.

N: Favorite book when you were a kid?

A: I actually wasn’t a reader as a kid. I’m sure we read books in school but because I didn’t have a love of reading, I don’t recall them. When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher handed me a copy of The Color Purple. She recognized there was no Black literature anywhere in the curriculum and wanted to expose me to some. When I finished the book, she took me and a friend out to lunch to discuss. This sparked my love of reading.

N: If you could choose three people, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

A: 1) Prince because I love his music and admire him so much as an artist. We lost him too soon and I regret not going to more of his performances. 2) Harlan Coben because I love his books so much and I’d enjoy spending hours picking his brain and getting some inside info on Myron and Win. 3) Idris Elba because… self-explanatory.

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An Acquired Taste

May the best chef win!

After four years at the country’s top culinary school and several years as head chef in her mother’s restaurant, Rowan Townsend has built a notable reputation. Her farm-to-table collard greens have long been bringing everyone to the yard, but limits on the restaurant’s size have led to long waits. Looking to expand the restaurant, she enters a televised chef competition. The problem? Her infuriatingly talented nemesis from culinary school also enters.

To the culinary world, Knox Everheart is restaurant royalty. As much as Rowan wants to deny it, he’s a gifted chef. Rowan knows her arrogant arch-nemesis is confident he’ll win—he’s certainly given her a run for her money more times than she’d like to admit. But this time, she’s ready to show him who’s boss.

Their rivalry soon sparks fireworks in the kitchen and, as the competition heats up, so does Rowan’s attraction to Knox. And somewhere between pasta and gumbo, they both need to decide what’s worth fighting for.

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